Madurai advocates to boycott proceedings in support of CJ
Associations urge SC Collegium to reconsider her transfer

10/09/2019, STAFF REPORTER ,MADURAI

The Bar associations of both the Madras High Court Bench and the District Court in passed separate resolutions on Monday, affirming their support for Madras High Court Chief Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani, who has resigned following her transfer to the High Court of Meghalaya. They requested the Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider the decision to transfer her.

In a resolution, the Madurai Bench Madras High Court Advocates’ Association and the Madurai Bar Association, which recently merged to form MBHAA-MBA, resolved to abstain from court proceedings indefinitely from September 10. The associations have also decided to stage a demonstration on the High Court Bench campus.

Apart from the request to the Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider the decision to transfer Ms. Tahilramani, the associations have appealed to the Chief Justice to withdraw her resignation. Members of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association have decided to write a letter to the Supreme Court Collegium, urging it to reconsider the decision to transfer the Chief Justice.

Bar associations of the Madurai District Court have also decided to boycott court proceedings on September 10. The Madurai Bar Association and the Madurai District Court Lawyers’ Association-Women, which boycotted court proceedings on September 9, will continue the boycott on September 10. The Lawyers’ Association of Madurai District Court will also join the boycott.

The Federation of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Lawyers' Association has announced a State-wide court boycott on Tuesday to condemn Ms. Tahilramani’s transfer.

Members of the Federation demanded that the President not accept the Collegium’s recommendation to transfer her, and that she be allowed to continue as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.

Ex-Judge to look into selection process

10/09/2019, STAFF REPORTER ,MADURAI

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has appointed retired High Court Judge D. Hariparanthaman to look into the legality and fairness of the selection process for appoint of staff to Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar College at Melaneelithanallur in Tirunelveli district.

Taking cognisance of allegations made over the functioning and management of the institution, a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and B. Pugalendhi appointed the retired judge to look into the legality of the process. The case was adjourned till September 25 for filing of a report.

The court was hearing a petition that sought a direction to appoint a former judge as administrator to monitor the appointments and see if they were made in accordance with the by-laws of the institution. It was agreed to constitute a committee to look into the appointments of staff of the college, following which interviews were held. However, the results were not announced.

In order to ascertain the fairness of the selection process, the court appointed the retired judge to look into the records. The management was directed to assist the retired judge in this regard and pay a sum of ₹2 lakh as remuneration.

Srivilliputtur 'palkova' set to get GI tag

10/09/2019,CHENNAI

The famous Srivilliputtur 'palkova', a sweet made from cow milk and sugar, will get a Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai. The 'palkova' is made in and around the municipality of Srivilliputtur in Virudhunagar district.

Don’t wish to discuss my transfer or resignation, says Tahilramani

Lawyers demand withdrawal of transfer order

10/09/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani

Even as lawyers practising in the Madras High Court as well as its Madurai Bench stood resolutely behind her, Chief Justice of Madras High Court Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani on Monday refused to express any opinion on her proposed transfer to the High Court of Meghalaya and her consequent resignation.

When approached for her views on the issue, Justice Tahilramani said: “I do not wish to make any comments or discuss the matter. Kindly excuse me.”

The Supreme Court collegium, comprising top five judges of the court, had decided to transfer her to Meghalaya ‘in the interest of better administration of justice’ and the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court Ajay Kumar Mittal to the Madras High Court.

When the decision was communicated to her, she sent a representation on September 2 seeking reconsideration of her transfer. The collegium took up the representation on September 3 and concluded that it would not be possible to accede to her request. It reiterated its August 28 recommendation for transferring her to Meghalaya and forwarded the proposal to the President’s office as well as the Centre for issuing necessary orders.

It was only thereafter, the Chief Justice chose to put in her papers.

Consequently, she chose not to preside over the court proceedings on Monday when a section of lawyers led by senior counsel R.Vaigai staged a demonstration against the transfer.

Deposit for power connections may go up

09/09/2019

Development charges will be levied, depending on whether the consumer is served through overhead lines or the cable.

If a domestic consumer comes under the first category, they will have to pay ₹2,000, up from ₹400 (for single phase) and ₹1,400 (three phase).

With respect to a three-phase connection, the unit of the charge will be the load utilised, measured in terms of kilowatt, instead of the present arrangement of service connection. If the consumer is served by cable, they will have to pay ₹7,200 per KW.

During 2018-19, around 29 lakh new connections were given. The earnest money deposit, which a new industrial unit will have to place with Tangedco, will go up from ₹600 per KW to ₹2,000 for low tension category and to ₹3,100 per KVA (kilovolt ampere) from ₹800 for high tension consumer.

Inspection and testing of the electricity system at a consumer’s place, will hereafter be charged ₹580 for a domestic single-phase and ₹1,920 for domestic three-phase whose load is above 18.3 KW. With respect of a high tension category, it will be ₹3,810.

A senior official of Tangedco said the revision in the charges was carried out in 2004. Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission, M Chandrasekar said a public hearing would be held.

‘High Court of Meghalaya is in no way inferior to Madras HC’

Hue and cry over Justice Tahilramani’s transfer unwarranted, says former judge

09/09/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

The Supreme Court collegium’s decision to transfer Madras High Court Chief Justice V.K. Tahilramani to the High Court of Meghalaya and her consequent resignation have caused quite a stir across the country. In an interview on Sunday, former Madras High Court judge, Justice K. Chandru, said the hue and cry over the CJ’s transfer was unwarranted, arguing that all HCs were equal. Excerpts:

How do you view the hue and cry over the transfer of Madras HC Chief Justice V.K. Tahilramani to the Meghalaya HC?

The issue has to be seen in a larger context. The policy of bringing Chief Justices from outside a State began only in the late 1980s. Today, we have over 25 HCs across the country, with the north-eastern States also having separate courts that are admittedly smaller. Once the policy has been accepted and has become a norm, nobody can say “I will not go to a northeastern State”. It [Meghalaya] is also a part of India and is also a State. So far as your status, emoluments, salary, perks and everything else are the same, I don’t see why one should resist a transfer to Meghalaya.

But there is a perception that a transfer from a chartered HC to a new and relatively smaller HC is a demotion...

In the Constitutional scheme of things, there is no such thing as a big HC or a small HC. Just because a High Court was established on the basis of a charter issued by Queen Victoria [during British rule], it does not make it superior to other HCs. In fact, there are many judges across the country who dread being transferred to the Madras HC. They consider it to be a punishment posting due to the work environment here. So, the question of promotion or demotion does not arise at all when a judge is transferred from one HC to another. It is just the perception of individuals.

Lawyers and politicians are alleging that a woman Chief Justice is being treated shabbily by the Supreme Court collegium…

I don’t see any victimisation here because she will continue to be a Chief Justice, be it in Madras or Meghalaya. It is not as if she is being pulled down from the post of Chief Justice and being made a puisne judge. When Justice Gita Mittal can be the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir HC, Justice Tahilramani can also be the Chief Justice of Meghalaya. If she cannot work in Meghalaya, how can we then expect any other person to work there? The present Chief Justice of Meghalaya, A.K. Mittal, comes from the Punjab and Haryana HC, which is as big as the Madras HC.

Shouldn’t the collegium disclose the reasons for such transfers to avoid speculation?

Transfer orders are generally issued on the ground of administrative exigency, because the use of any other terminology would amount to attaching a stigma. In my view, there should be a national-level commission to decide on appointments and transfers of HC judges in a transparent manner. However, as long as the collegium system runs the show, one has to accept its decision because we do not know what the inputs were that led to the decision to transfer [Ms. Tahilramani]. We must also bear in mind that the second member of the collegium is none other than Justice S.A. Bobde, who hails from Maharashtra, the home State of Justice Tahilramani.

Do you think Justice Tahilramani’s May 2017 verdict in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case may have had a bearing on her transfer?

It is silly to link that judgment with the present transfer. It was only after delivering that verdict in the Bombay HC that she got elevated as the Chief Justice of the Madras HC in August 2018. Moreover, there is absolutely no government interference on the issue of transfers. It is left purely to the discretion of the collegium, which gets inputs on the judges’ performance from various sources.

Now that she has resigned, can she preside over court proceedings until her resignation is accepted by the President?

We have to read the text of her resignation letter to answer that question. Once a judge decides to resign at will, the question of acceptance or rejection will not arise. However, if she had given a future date on which she wants to resign, the President cannot relieve her prematurely.

Honour for institutions, individuals from diverse fields

Third edition of Good Samaritan Alert Being Awards presented

09/09/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Abhishek Poduri, Tata Trusts, receives the organisation icon award from former National Security Adviser M.K.Narayanan. B. JOTHI RAMALINGAMB. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

Nila, 34, is an inspiration to the transgender community. She declared her sexual orientation in the second year of her B.Pharm degree. Her family disowned her and she took to begging to pay her way through college.

Now, she runs the People Health Action and Research Management (PHARM) Foundation. Her father is helping her promote her organisation, she says.

Bharaa, 24, is a gold medallist in ECE from St. Peter’s Engineering College in Avadi, Chennai. Though selected through campus placements, companies did not send her appointment letters.

“I attended 25 interviews and was rejected all the time,” says Bharaa, who was born a boy. In college, she conducted sensitisation programmes for teachers and students and overcame challenges.

During a six-month internship with PeriFerry, an organisation that works with the transgender community, she was called for an interview by SPI Cinemas. Now she heads its subsidiary SPI Edge.

“Talent has no gender,” insists Bharaa, who wants to become an entrepreneur. I need unavu, udai and iruppidam (food, clothes and a shelter). I got them, and now I am independent. My parents did not come to my convocation, but now my mother speaks to me,” she says.

PeriFerry was launched by Neelam Jain, who found her calling when the international bank that she was working with rejected several transgender persons who were better qualified. Her fieldwork revealed that the gap was in financial indpendence. PeriFerry has so far placed around 90 transpersons in various companies.

13 organisations honoured

On Sunday, PeriFerry was among the 13 organisations honoured for their work with the Good Samaritan Alert Being Awards.

The awardees included well-known institutions such as Tata Trusts and individuals working in diverse fields such as rehabilitation of beggars, sheltering HIV/AIDS-infected persons and children with mental disabilities.

The third edition of the awards was presented by former National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Commissioner of Police A.K. Viswanathan, among others. Mr. Narayanan said such acts impacted people’s lives.

“This is the kind of inspiration we require to bring humanity to everyday life,” he said.

Mr. Viswanathan praised Alert for skilling people who can respond to emergencies, given that close to 95,000 people die in road accidents every year in the country. Rajesh R. Trivedi, managing trustee of Alert, said the ctiy now had 400 first responders and it would soon touch 1,000.